To Follow The Wolf
by TheMysticOnee
Summary: Myafen Levellan's story did not start at the conclave. When Mya tells Solas the horrible secret of her past, he realizes that the Inquisitor is not all she appears to be. But will that be enough to influence his plan? Will he decide to include another who has been wronged by the Dalish in his plans to restore what was lost? WARNING:NOT FOR CLAN LEVELLAN LOVERS
1. Chapter 1

The day she was born was full of omens. Whether good or bad, it depended on the person and their beliefs. From her parents' perspective, the brightness of the rising sun was a sign of hope. For the Keeper, the blood-red tinge of the same sun told her that the child was going to be battle-tested. For the rest of the clan, the child's high pitched wailing coupled with the wolves' singing in the forest was a sign that she would be strong and a force to be feared. Thus, her name was to be Mya'fen. To follow the wolf. So that all those she encounters would know the path that she takes.

Ten years pass and the infant has grown into quite the child. She was both curious and knowledgeable, serious and silly, in short, she was quite the handful. Her bright blue eyes, ringed with silver flashed with curiosity.

"Mya, no. You mustn't eat that!" Her mother cries out, when the blonde haired child tries to eat a particularly dangerous plant.

"Why not?" Mya asks.

"Because it'll make you terribly ill, child." Miasha explains patiently. She takes the plant from the tiny hands of her child.

"You don't want to meet Falon'Din early, do you?" the child shakes her head at this.

"No, _Mamae_ , I want to live until I'm as old as the sky!" Her mother chuckles and runs her hand through Mya'fen's platinum blonde hair.

"Then you must be careful, and think before you act." Miasha says sternly. "Let's see if your father is done making dinner."

They take the long way back to their aravel, mostly so Miasha could teach her about plants. When they finally arrive where their clan was camped. But what they come home to is most unexpected. Humans were attacking the aravels and the elves both.

"Knife-eared, heathen, bastards!" someone calls out.

" _Shemlen_ scum!" an elf responds.

"Quickly, we must get the aravel up and moving!" Mya clutched her mother's hand as they ran past the violence. "Hurry!" her mother cries. "We must go!"

When they finally reach the aravel that is theirs, it is quiet.

"Vhenan!" Miasha cried out. "Where are you?" No response. She turned to her daughter. "Run. As far and as quickly as you can. Find another clan. Tell them was has transpired here." Mya refused to move, tears flowing down her tiny cheeks.

"No, I want to stay with you! Where is _Papae?"_ Miasha growled in frustration and grief.

"Go! Now! Do as I tell you and run!" She noticed a halla struggling to break the cord that attached it to the aravel. Miasha picked up her daughter, and ran to the halla, setting her daughter down on it. She pulled the knife strapped to her thigh out of its leather sheath and cut at the bindings of the halla.

"There's some knife-ears over here!" a man called out. A group of seven rouge men headed their way.

"Never forget this, Mya'fen: No matter how lonely or sad you are, no matter what happens, your father and I will always watch over you and we will always love you." Miasha whispered in her ear. She lifted her hand and smacked the halla's flanks. "May the Dread Wolf follow and protect you!" She cried as the halla galloped away.

Miasha turned around to face her enemies. She clenched the dagger in her hands. The Dalish woman knew that her husband and most of her clan were likely dead, and that she would likely also perish.

"She ain't half bad lookin', boss. Now that she ain't got her little brat with her." One of the men taunted, leering at the mother.

"Someone go get the brat and the stupid antelope thing she's riding." The man that seemed to be in charge commanded.

"You think you're justified in this?" Miasha demanded. "We have done nothing to you." A man with black leather armor approached the woman.

"You and your clan are demons and must be purged. The magic you knife-eared heretics practice must be destroyed."

"There's no point in convincing you. You've already caused too much death for even your precious Andraste to be able to forgive you." She points her dagger at a man in black leather amour. "You're first." She swiftly lunges and cuts the throat of the man. The man gasps and attempts to cover the gash. It is pointless, the man bleeds out. "Who's next?"

Mya'fen didn't know how long the halla ran. They ran and ran and ran as she sobbed. Eventually the halla slowed down and gave Mya the chance to study her surroundings. Bes the trees, there was a river that ran past a small clearing where Mya and her clan had once camped. Not far from her, there was a cave where the clan used to go to gather certain herbs before a cave-in the area in which the herds were most abundant. Both the halla and the elf walked to the river to drink the much needed water. As she struggled to get off the halla to drink, she looked down, and saw that the water ran red with blood and was filled with the mangled corpses of what was once her clan. She screamed and hastily sprinted past the halla.

The halla looked alarmed and followed her. Eventually, she came upon the cave the clan had used. Unfortunately due to disuse, the cave was occupied by a pack of four wolves. When the wolves smelled the unlikely pair, they ran out of the cave, snarling. The halla, startled, ran away as fast as it could. It took all that tiny Mya had to stand as still as a rock, as she was taught to do when encountering a wolf. She cautiously reached out a hand. One of the wolves walked to her, careful of the elf. The wolf sniffed her hand. She reached her hand to the wolf's head, hoping to gain its trust. Her hand made contact with the wolf's ear and she scratched. The wolf slowly relaxed with each scratch of it's ear and it's tongue lolled out of it's mouth in a silly display of approval. Mya smiled softly.

"My family is dead. Can I come live with you?" The wolf nuzzled his head against her palm. The other wolves, which were chasing the halla, gave up and approached the girl cautiously. They each took turns smelling the girl for any deception she might give them. Finding none, they accepted her as one of their own.

That night was the first of many horrible nights to come. She saw her clan mates being torn apart by large, human hands. She saw her mother and father beheaded, their corpses burned by the hunters. She woke suddenly, surrounded by her new pack, gasping for air.

"You need to think before you act, da'len." Her mother had said to her. So she thought. The next arlathvhen wasn't for another two years, and she needed to warn the other clan that was in the area, a difficult as this will be. Her wolves whined as they tried to comfort the hurting girl.

"I need to get to the next clan. To warn them that humans are hunting elves. The next arlathvhen isn't for a while." She mumbled. The Free Marches was a big place. To get to the next clan, she was going to have to learn how to track. "You think you guys can teach me some tricks?" She asked her friends.


	2. Chapter 2

A huge white wolf stalked through the forests, her steps quiet. The only sounds she could hear were the birds and her own breathing. She moved suddenly, chasing a halla as it sprinted for its life. Eventually, she had it exactly where she wanted it. Her pack charging in, and finishing it off. She let the wolves take what they wanted first, as they did most of the work. When they were done, they nudged the best part of the halla her way.

"Thank you, my friends.", Mya'fen said gratefully. She started a shifted back to human form, made a fire, grabbed the nearest stick, and roasted her portion.

"I can't believe it's been a year." she mournfully stated. One year since her whole world was turned upside down. Since she lost her clan and her parents. Suddenly, the temperature dropped drastically and little snowflakes started falling from the sky. The group of wolves whined at the sudden loss of heat.

" _Ir ableas_." she whispered apologetically. In the time she's been with her pack, she discovered her gift of magic. The shape shifting in particular was a huge surprise.

.

The day Mya discovered she had magic had not been a pleasant one. She had decided to wait for the humans to leave and with the help of her pack, traced her way back to the camp she had once called home. When she arrived, she almost passed out from the smell of her dead clan. She couldn't hold back the tears of grief for the child she had been, and the lives that were lost. She steeled herself for the next task. She gathered necessary supplies for a proper Dalish funeral and set to work burying her dead family. Mya'fen avoided her own aravel until she felt herself ready. She was not at all ready. The bodies that once comforted her when she was sick, punished her when she was out of line, and held her when she needed to be held, were in horrible condition. Her mother's once shining red hair was missing from her scalp, and her father's face was barely recognizable. She ran outside the aravel and vomited until she had nothing left in her stomach.

The wolves she had adopted as her own whined and nuzzled her until the sobs stopped coming. "They need a proper funeral. They deserve that much." She told them. It took her most of the day to dig the amount of graves necessary for the Dalish ceremony that she knew. As she said the words that would help her kin to find peace in the beyond, it started raining. Anger that the rain would ruin all of her hard work she screamed and slammed her palms on the ground. Suddenly, a crack of lightning hit the spot her palms met, startling little Mya. She looked at her hands in wonder and anger. Why couldn't she have had this power weeks ago when she needed it?! She screamed in anguish and grief before slamming her hands on the ground again. The same result. Revas, the wolf who had first approached her, nuzzled her white muzzle across Mya's hands in an attempt to comfort her. Hanin whined and growled softly, sensing her discomfort. Enalsalin and Atisha, the two wolves who chased her halla, barked in protest of her sadness. "Sometimes, I wish I could be like you, so I wouldn't have to be me." She had said. Looking back on it, years later, she laughed at the irony of what happened after that. She grabbed whatever supplies that were salvageable, and they headed out on their journey to find clan Levellan.

After the funeral, the pack moved from cave to cave until they had come across a cave that featured a unpolluted river, a forest filled with wildlife, and was human-free. This was where they had been for the past three months. The first time Fenel laid eyes on the cave filled with sparkling dawnstone, she was amazed at the beauty. This was the cave where she found out she could change her shape. She watched one day, as a bird flitted from branch to branch and found a sudden desire to do the same. She concentrated on the bird's shape and how she, herself would appear. She felt what she would later find out as the magical energy of shifting overtake her, and she changed!

She felt the strength of the birds' wings and the freedom of flying. _I wonder if I could change into a wolf?_ She thought. She pictured a white wolf in her head as she shifted once more. Her size, however, was more the size of a hart than a wolf. She lifted a paw, testing. In the distance, she heard a familiar joyful howl. She lifted her head and howled in return.

Soon, Revas, Hanin, Enalsalin, and Atisha came home with the spoils of the hunt. They were not expecting their wayward elf to be replaced by the oversized white wolf that stood in her place. Revas was the first to approach her, having been the first one before, and sniffed. It was that same scent of elfroot and berries that had clung to their ward when they first met. _It's her._ Revas communicated to the others. Mya was surprised that she could understand the wolf. _Are you sure? How is that possible?_ Atisha demanded. Atisha was always the most cautious of the group. _It is me! I'm so happy I can finally understand what you're saying!_ Mya yipped in joy. Enalsalin sniffed her for confirmation. He barked back an affirmative to his younger brother, Hanin, who joined the group.

 _I have heard of one who knows how to change her shape, although she makes her home far away from here._ Hanin said, tongue lolling out of his mouth. _I'm pretty certain that I have the trick to this memorized. However, I am no fool and will only take the form of the wolf or others like it to prevent myself from being possessed, as untrained mages often are._ They tilted their heads at that. _We need to find this clan Levellan soon_ , Atisha said thoughtfully.

It had been two months since little Myafen discovered that her shape-shifting abilities. Since then, she has used the time to acclimate to the life of the wolf. In between the lessons that her family gave her, they discovered a human town with enough distance between the _shem_ and the wolves that Myafen was no longer uneasy. Despite what the hunters had done to her clan and her family, she held no resentment towards other humans. She had seen their kindness first hand when a lonely woman offered her the only piece of bread that she had. And again when an old man knelt down to pet her ears when she was transformed as a mabari. She kept her ears covered, however, when she went to the markets in her elf form.

"I hear there's a clan of elves not far from here," One man muttered to another.

"Clan Levellan!" she exhaled excitedly. Mya quickly rushed out of the town to find her wolf family. "I found them!" she shouted. They wolves barked happily, glad she finally found her clan. "There were some shemlen that were talking about a clan outside of town, I'm sure all we have to do is find some hint of their presence." That was going to be difficult. Dalish elves tried not to leave any evidence of their homes, lest the fate clan Fenora befall them.

The next day, after hours of tracking, Myafen found the clan her mother pointed her to. Only to find the clan was not at all what she expected.


	3. Chapter 3

"No, I do not want any wolf pelts in my quarters." Mya said to the workers who brought up the offensive objects. It had been sixteen years since her world fell apart. Fifteen since clan Levellan generously took her in. Two years since the Conclave. Today, she was arguing with Inquisition servants over the carpeting in her quarters.

"Just because I am an elf, does not mean that I want dead animals on my floor."

In truth, it was because the pelts reminded her of her long dead foster family. She failed to protect her wolves, just as she failed to protect her parents and clan.

"Alright, Your Worship, I understand." Josephine replied with understanding.

"Would you like some woolen carpets instead?" Mya considered this for a minute.

"Okay, that I can do. Although I feel silly about fretting over something as trivial as carpets." Mya admitted. Josephine put her hand on Mya's shoulder.

"From what you've told me of your childhood, I completely understand why walking on wolf fur would be traumatizing, and I apologize", Josephine replied sincerely. Mya blinked.

"It's not your fault, Josie. No need to apologize." Josie bowed her head in gratitude.

"You're too kind, Inquisitor." Mya smirked.

"It's just like _shemlen_ nobles to ignore the traditions of my people. Do the nobles who send me these think I would be scared? Do they think I follow the ignorant traditions of my fellow Dalish? In my childhood, I never feared Fen'Harel. The clan I was born in actually worshipped him instead of the other gods in the elvhen pantheon. It made me somewhat of a pariah, to the clan who ended up raising me." Mya explained. The look on Josephine's face expressed displeasure at the Inquisitor's slur, but the Antivan ambassador allowed it to pass.

In her time with clan Levellan, Mya discovered many differences between the clan she was born into, and the clan who she was raised with. First and foremost, the fear of the Dread Wolf was not present in her birth-clan. In fact, the clan's name paid homage to the wolf. When Keeper Deshanna asked the origins of her name, Fenel found it easier to say it was to keep the Dread Wolf off her scent than to say it was to honor him. Once she discovered the other clans' hatred of the Dread Wolf, she decided she wouldn't tell Dashanna of the wolves who she called family. Her decision ended up costing her the ones who saved her life, in the end.

"Inquisitor?" a familiar elf called out from down the stairs. "I apologize for disturbing such an important meeting, but I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time." he asked.

"Looks like the rug issue must be put on a hold." She acknowledged. Josephine tilted her head in a affirmation.

"On my way, Solas." Mya called out. She took one last look at the workers who brought up the wolf pelts.

"I hope I never see wolf pelts in my quarters again. I would so hate to have to get rid of such dedicated workers." She mused on her way down the stairs.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Mya asked Solas on their way to his rotunda.

"Something you said about your clan to the ambassador is… intriguing." He admitted.

"You spied on the Conclave for clan Levellan, yet you were not born as such?" he inquired. She shook her head. They walked past Varric, who winked at the Inquisitor. Mya blushed and stuck her tongue out at the dwarf.

"No, I was in a Dalish clan who did not share the same beliefs about Fen'Harel as the Dalish here seem to." She spoke. Solas' eyes widened.

"Why? Don't the Dalish clans meet at the Arlathvhen to share their stories?" She nodded.

"Yes. My birth clan, from what I remember, was always treated with a certain… distance." she explained.

"All the other clans knew what we thought of the Dread Wolf, but the elders seemed more concerned with keeping all the Dalish somewhat united, than whether or not we believed the Trickster Wolf was the reason for our fall." Solas nodded his understanding.

"I see. How did you come to go to Levellan?" he asked.

"I… don't usually like talking about it." She began.

"You do not have to share your origins if you do not wish to." Solas offered.

"No, I've talked about it a little with my advisors, but think I need to get it all out to really move on. At least to someone I trust." She muttered, suddenly feeling self-conscious.

"When I was a girl, a group of human rouges attacked Clan Fenora." Solas' face twisted into shock.

"Nation of the wolf? Why would the Dalish name themselves after a being long thought to be the reason for Arlathan's destruction?" he asked.

"I told you our clan had heretical thoughts about the Dread Wolf, did I not?" Mya answered patiently.

"We wandered along the edges of Antiva mostly, we visited the ruins of Arlathan, digging up whatever we artifact we could find. I don't really recall much of what we found. Only that it depicted Fen'Harel in a completely different light than what the Dalish understand" She added regretfully.

"That's…" Solas was speechless. He could not understand how anyone could uncover any of the secrets of Arlathan, much less any of the Dalish.

"Your birth clan sounds much more progressive than any of the other clans I met. I can't imagine the amount of acclimating it must have taken you with clan Levellan." He whispered in awe. She gave a rueful smile.

"We seem to have a shared experience with the Dalish not believing what we have to say. However, you being well versed in the Fade and its mysteries, I find their lack of faith in you more disturbing than their lack of faith in me." Solas returned her smile.

"Had your clan lived, I believe they would have made a bigger difference in Dalish views. Although I have no evidence of this." He added. Mya blushed and muttered a quick _ma serannas_.

"Anyway, we were traveling and one day a group of human rogues came upon the location of our aravels. Naturally they didn't want any knife-ears traveling on what they viewed as 'their' land, much less a group of 'demon-worshiping knife-ears'. So they attacked, and slaughtered us. My mother tried to get to my father in time, but…" She trailed off.

"Da'len, you don't have to continue." Solas said gently.

"No, I haven't talked about this in a while. I need to." Mya firmly replied. "So my mother picked me up, put me on the nearest halla, and I never saw her alive again." Solas stared at her.

"How did you survive?" Mya hesitated and considered lying to him. What if thought she was crazy, as other did?

"You're not going to believe me." She warned.

"I believe I have seen my fair share of 'crazy shit' as Varric likes to put it." Solas reassured. The corners of Mya's mouth started twitching.

"I found a cave with a pack of feral wolves inside who took me in and helped me." She confessed. Solas raised an eyebrow.

"Is that it?" He asked. She shook her head.

"Not even remotely. The crazy part came later, and was as much a surprise to me, as it's about to be to you." Myafen took a step back from the apostate, and took a deep breath. Suddenly, there was a flash of sky blue light and a wolf as white as the snow on the surrounding peaks of skyhold, and as big as a hart replaced the Inquisitor.

To say that Solas was shocked was the understatement of the millennia. Since his awakening, he had not come across any that retained the ability to change their form. Another flash of blue light and Mya was back in her elven form.

"You know Solas, I've heard that if you keep your jaw wide open like that, it invites demons." She teased nervously.

"Have you always had this ability?" he asked after a few moments of silent contemplation. She nodded.

"It didn't manifest until…. After. Along with my magic." she stated. "I found out later that my entire clan had possessed this ability." Solas was thoughtful for a brief moment.

"The ancient elves called those with the ability to change their shape, _dun'himelan_. I have encountered few memories of those with the ability in the Fade, and thus I find this… fascinating." He admitted.

"However, I was under the impression that the Dalish only kept one or two mages so they would not draw the attention of Templars." Solas went on to say. Mya bit her lip in contemplation.

"While that is true in most clans, my clan was different. I suppose the adults thought that we could protect ourselves from the Chantry." she said ruefully.

"The fact that we did not fear Fen'Harel combined with the amount of mages in our clan did not make us popular among our people, but the elders could not ignore the fact that so few of us remember the old ways. Or what the Dalish could comprehend of the old ways." she amended at the look of contempt on Solas' face.

" _Ir abelas, lethallan._ " Solas whispered, sorrow and regret coating his voice.

"Why are you sorry? You do realize that not every horrific event that happens in Thedas is your fault, right?" She jested. Solas' mouth twitched.

"You're very name is blasphemous. 'To follow the wolf'. How did you explain that to Levellan?" He asked, skillfully avoiding answering her question. Mya grimaced, his avoidance did not go unnoticed, and would be confronted later.

"My life after I was found was not… simple." She said cryptically.

"We can continue that particular conversation later, if you wish." Solas offered gently, sensing her discomfort. Mya's eyes shone with gratefulness. She could talk about the tragedy that took place in her childhood, but her time spent as First to Clan Levellan was still somewhat fresh in her mind.

" _Ma serannas, harhen._ " She said. Solas' eyes glanced behind her and he smiled.

"Looks like we had an auidience." Mya whipped around to see Varric Tethras with his mouth hanging open.

"Wow." He said in awe. "You really can't write this shit." Mya guffawed and laughed.

"My life has been one big pile of crazy shit." She admitted.

"Indeed," the resident Tevinter mage added from above.

"So do we need to check and see if she has any diseases?" Dorian quipped. Mya glared at the flashy mage.

"I'll have you know that I've never had so much as a flea!" Mya shouted indignantly. All three of the men chuckled.

"I'll let you get back to your rugs." Solas said with an amused smile and turned to study the shard on his table. Mya smiled, nodded and moved to walk past Varric and back to her quarters.


	4. Chapter 4

Mya woke two days later to an unbearable aching in her left hand.

"Fucking gods damn it!" she swore. She swung her legs to the side of her bed. Deciding to forgo the complicated _shem_ clothing in favor of a light blue, somewhat transparent negligee, she headed to the rotunda, where the resident Fade expert lay.

"Solas. Are you awake?" she whispered from behind the door. She knocked lightly. She hissed as another wave of pain came from the anchor.

"I need your help." She knocked again, a little more urgently. She could hear someone on the other side of the door getting up and shuffling towards her. As the door opened, Solas glared at the intruder before realizing it was the Inquisitor. He was about to ask her what was going on, when he noticed how hard she was clutching her left hand with her right.

"Come in, and I'll see what I can do." he moved aside for Mya to join him.

As she walked by him, he noticed what she was wearing, or rather, what she _wasn't_ wearing. He observed, his mouth dry, the milky paleness of her skin, the scars that went up and down her entire body, the soft curves of her hips, the taut muscles on her stomach. He swallowed (an action he thinks she didn't see, but she totally did) and gestures for her to sit on the couch.

"Has it been hurting this whole time?" he demanded. She, at the very least, the grace to look sheepish, confirming his thoughts.

" _Fenedhis_! Why is this the first time you've said anything?" Mya distracted herself from his irritation (and the feel of his calloused hands on hers, not that Mya would ever admit) by staring at the murals that decorated the walls of the apostate's room.

"I didn't want to worry anyone." She mumbled sleepily. Solas' eyes softened.

"It would be prudent of you to develop a sense of self preservation, Inquisitor, lest we have to elect someone to replace you." He said in a voice that Mya, if she did not know better, was teasing. She tilted her chin in a sleepy acknowledgement. Solas' hand lit up with his mana.

"I'm going to try to take as much fade energy from the anchor as I can. The energy from the anchor is clashing with your mana. I'm sure that's what's causing you pain." He stated. Mya's eyes widened.

"Wouldn't you also suffer?" She asked worriedly. Solas shook his head.

"I'm not going to take it into myself, I'm simply going to pull it from your hand, store the energy in a container of some sort."

He walked over to his desk. He shuffled around papers and impatiently opened the drawers until he found a blue glass jar.

"For now, it will be contained in here." Solas gently touched her hand. Mya gasped as Solas' mana mixed with hers. Solas' faced shifted into one of concentration. His forearm gently caressed the Inquisitor's in an almost intimate way. Their mana aggressively brushed against each other, Solas' drawing hers from her body. He grunted and released her. In one smooth motion, he shoved his fist into the jar, and poured the green energy into the container, closing the lid quickly.

He smiled tiredly at her.

"Is that better?", he asked. She nodded.

"Ugh, I just want to sleep here. Getting down all those stairs was annoyingly painful." She complained. Solas just rolled his eyes.

"You are more than welcome to share my bed, if you would like." He offered, then immediately turned the most delightful shade of red May had ever seen upon realizing his implication. She then proceeded to snort and giggle uncontrollably. Solas just looked uncomfortable and indignant, which prompted May to laugh more, until she predictably fell off the couch she was sitting on. Now it was Solas' turn to smile and chuckle, and hers to look indignant.

"S'not funny." She mumbled, mortified that she fell on her ass.

"I disagree." Solas countered. "The mighty Inquisitor Levellan, Herald of Andraste, sitting on her rather nice rear end in my quarters. It is the pinnacle of humor." Her face turned as red as bloodstone.

"You been observing my rear end then, have you?" she demanded. He shrugged.

"I know you and the others must think that I have no interest in that area, but I **assure** you," he accented with a wink, "I am quite adept." Mya couldn't do anything but blink. All this time, she had thought him disinterested in her, but she was wrong. She smirked.

"We'll have to finish up this conversation some other night." She yawned She got up off the floor, and wiped the dirt off her nightie. Solas watched the swing of her hips as she walked to his door.

"I hope you have pleasant dreams, _Harhen_." She whispered. And with that, walked out of the room.

Solas stared at the door that his Inquisitor just walked out of. He took a deep breath and released it. H pulled out his chair and sat down. Groaning in frustration, he held his head in between his knees. "You planned this, didn't you? Somehow you _knew_ this would happen. What am I supposed to do now?" He murmured. Mya was quickly becoming a distraction he didn't need. But how could he not admire the beautiful spirit she had? Mya had come from humble, tragic beginnings, just as he had. How could he not have some feelings for this Dalish woman?


	5. Chapter 5

_Mya was ecstatically jumping around the camp fire.. After months of searching, she finally found a clan, as her mother had wanted. However, they weren't like her previous clan. They were much more paranoid about contact with the humans, which, given her experience with the shemlen, didn't seem to be a bad thing. They seemed to treat her shape-changing magic as something that is forbidden._

 _"_ _Da'len , why would you not be satisfied with the shape that the Creators gave you?" Keeper Deshanna asked, in what had seemed like a mother-like patient tone. She shrugged her shoulders._

 _"_ _I did what I had to do to survive, Keeper." She replied. Deshanna seemed pleased at this answer._

 _"_ _You have to do more than survive, Da'len. You have to live and leave the past where it belongs." Mya didn't know this now, but later she would come to see this as the only good piece of advice that Keeper Levellan would ever give her._

 _That night after the celebrations for finding a lost Dalish mage had ended, she snuck out of the aravel she had been invited to sleep in. She quickly shifted into her wolf form, and padded away._

 _"_ _Brothers!' she called out, her tongue lolling out of her mouth._

 _"_ _Sister!" Rivas had answered as her wolf brothers trotted towards her. "How did it go? Did they accept you? I still don't understand why you couldn't just stay with us. We would have a lot more fun than some silly Dalish." Mya yipped indignantly._

 _"_ _I may be able to shift my form, but I am also one of those silly elves!" She countered. Revas barked in what a canine equivalent of a laugh._

 _"_ _You have the soul of a wolf, my sister. That makes you more special than any of those silly elves." Revas praised. Hanin, Enalsalin, and Atisha bowed their heads in agreement._

 _"_ _I still don't understand why you want to leave us." Atisha grumbled. "You'd be better off with those who love you already." His golden eyes were piercing as she twitched nervously._

 _"_ _I need to learn to control my magic. I'm sure as hell not going to a shemlen Circle." She shuddered at the thought._

 _Throughout their travels, they came across one mage who had been possessed by a demon. A Templar who had been tracking the abomination had finally found it, and proceeded to "deal" with it. The experience had been traumatic to say the least. Mya had great difficulty trying to sleep._

 _"_ _What happened to that mage is not going to happen to you. We'll make sure of it." Revas reassured. Mya was still doubtful. She loved her wolf family. But what did they really know of magic besides what she had discovered of herself?_

 _"_ _It's better this way. I can learn magic from the Keeper, and still hunt with you!" Mya declared. The wolves looked skeptical._

 _"_ _Exactly how long do you think it's going to take before they realize your disappearance? How long before they see you come with us? The clan that raised you was different, but Levellan seems to hate us just as much as the others." Atisha noted. Mya sighed._

 _"_ _I know. But maybe if they just meet you, they'll understand that wolves aren't like the stories. Fen'Harel was once part of the pantheon, maybe he can be again." Mya proposed excitedly. The wolves looked doubtful. But, as they loved this young elf mage as a sibling, they agreed to help despite knowing the likely outcome of their folly._


End file.
